The three-day vacation was over soon.
At the beginning of the new year, we encountered the Moon of Sorrow, which cast a shadow over the whole year.
The Imperial people, who were not very interested in celebrating, were even more lazy now. Many people simply treated it as an ordinary day.
Especially those whose families have been assigned fields, are reluctant to rest for a day, and refuse to come back after going to the fields.
In such an atmosphere, even Qingfeng City was greatly affected.
Instead, the three-day vacation ended, and except for a few people who continued to rest, most people returned to work.
Involving in the passionate work, everyone’s depressed mood was relieved.
Even the most miserable and tired miners, whether they are the miners in the Crystal Cave or the workers in the Mining Town, can only feel at ease when they pick up the mining manuscripts to work again.
The refugees from the Western Empire have actually fled to Qingfeng City.
You must know that Qingfeng City is not on the border of the grassland. From the border of the Western Empire to the grassland, there must be eighteen hundred miles, not to mention one hundred and eight thousand miles.
When they completely fell the Western Empire, news came that the entire Western Empire originally had tens of millions of families and hundreds of millions of people, but now it was even less than a million.
Everyone was shocked to realize that although the orcs in the stronghold had been repelled, peace was far from coming.
A large number of buildings in the Western Empire have either been bulldozed or directly transformed into cities of hell, and hell gates connecting to hell are being built everywhere.
The originally good farmland has been transformed into a magma pool, filled with man-eating demons.
All the way to escape, there are bones everywhere along the way, and the land is completely soaked in blood.
All the scenes are like purgatory returning to the world. Ordinary people are either fleeing and avoiding pursuit, or are being enslaved or massacred by demons.
Such news made the miners who were punished feel very grateful that a hero as powerful as Xu Lai had been born on the grassland.
At least now, they only need to finish their daily work, and they can receive a salary that is not too much, but at least decent.
In addition to the fact that the construction site includes food and accommodation, and sometimes even alcohol, the salary they receive can only be spent during holidays.
Although the work on the construction site is hard, as long as you atone for your sins, the rewards you can get are amazing.
But even if they are not paid, they can at least have a stable job, at least have food and drink, good conditions, and have a peaceful night's sleep.
Unlike those poor Western Empire people who were enslaved by demons, they could only drink some thin soup every day, not to mention having enough to eat, but they probably only dared to think about it when they were dreaming at night.
Not to mention big fish and big meat, I even had a taste of dragon meat some time ago.
The deeper the suffering of the people of the Western Empire, the sadder the news they brought, the more active the residents of Qingfeng City and the grasslands became in their work.
The most obvious thing is that the residents of Qingfeng City, after finishing the work every day, spontaneously became transport workers, helping to transport the ore transported from the underground or Kaonaston.
With the help of these people, Qingfeng City's wall construction work has more than doubled.
Xu Lai did not hire too many civilians before, because he mainly wanted to develop farmland and reserve more food to cope with the war.
Although there are many young and middle-aged people who have fled to Qingfeng City, they are not enough.
With the increasingly developed commerce and trade, the demand for young and strong labor has increased exponentially.
Xu Lai also recruited a large number of soldiers, recruited security guards, municipal workers, expanded pastures, farms, built roads, fisheries, built inns, etc.
Almost every job requires a lot of young adults.
Ordinary women and children can only do some not-too-heavy tasks such as feeding cattle, sheep and horses, processing furs, and helping to prepare meals.
This is also an important reason why men need to receive preferential treatment from society, because they pay more, and it is obviously unfair if they cannot get more rewards.
With the support of the Heart of the Castle, the construction speed of the city wall should have been very fast, but the farther the distance, the more time was wasted in the process of transportation.
No one is responsible for the construction work, and ordinary people cannot get involved.
The recruited farmers have an inherent advantage in this regard, just like program modules. As long as they are added, work efficiency can be greatly increased.
This month is also a rare month of hope. The recruitment quota has been doubled, and more than 300 farmers have been recruited.
With the input of these 300 farmers, and the voluntary help of countless people with transportation, in less than ten days, all the walls on all sides had taken shape.
The remaining work is nothing more than the construction of ballista towers and arrow towers, as well as the installation of city towers and city gates, as well as the layout of city defense equipment such as catapults.
This is not a short-term task, but undoubtedly the most complex, time-consuming and labor-intensive task of building the city wall has been completed.
As long as a few gates are repaired, it is just a matter of the number of defensive facilities, which will not delay the normal use of the city wall.
The most important thing is that as the date of January 10th approaches, more and more dignitaries, heroes, rich people and lords appear in Qingfeng City.
So many people, especially those with status and status, appeared in Qingfeng City.
If Qingfeng City fails to build even a city wall, it will affect the image of Qingfeng City too much, and it will soon spread everywhere.
Xu Lai doesn't care much about image, he is a pragmatist.
However, sometimes, when you reach a certain identity and status, your image becomes something that you must pay attention to.
Not to mention anything else, just letting the refugees know that Qingfeng City is a city without even a city wall will inevitably reduce their willingness to come to Qingfeng City.
Because Xu Lai attaches great importance to the auction, the entire Qingfeng City also attaches great importance to this auction.
The lanterns that were put up just in time for the Chinese New Year have not yet been removed. Let’s plant some flowers, make some decorations, get some fireworks and so on, and make it look presentable.
The residents of Qingfeng City also acted as enthusiastic guides today.
Those who come and go are either powerful or wealthy people, and a little leakage from the cracks of their fingers is enough to feed civilians like them for several years.
But the auction didn't start until 10 o'clock. I came early, so naturally I didn't want to wait around.
And the reputation of Qingfeng City has spread widely. They are not only here to participate in the auction, but they are also here to inspect Qingfeng City.
After all, for many powerful people, in addition to the attraction of artifacts, they have accumulated wealth for hundreds of years and have seen all kinds of treasures.
In peacetime, they may still be willing to spend a lot of money to buy various top-notch products.
However, in this time of precarious situation, they are more willing to concentrate their wealth in their hands, and if they want to buy, they also buy hard currency such as food and soldiers.
It was a pity that they walked around the trading market in Qingfeng City and found that an ordinary level 2 infantry here could be sold for 500 gold coins. Such an exaggerated price made the lords who originally wanted to buy some more soldiers be so frightened that their eyes almost popped out.
There is no way, the recruitment price of a level 2 infantry is only 50 gold coins, and the price has increased 10 times, who can still afford it.
Not long after, a strong man walked into the market, followed by more than a dozen crossbowmen and archers.
"500 gold coins, you are just a bird. You see there are too many people in the market, so the lion is opening his mouth, right?
I will take all the 400 gold coins with you. If not, you can continue to wait in the market. I will follow you later. Report to the manager of the market and ask him to at least increase your rent by 20 to 30%.”
The owner of the stall glanced at the person who came. He was wearing a military uniform of the Qingfeng Legion and he was quite famous. He is in the Qingfeng Legion and is responsible for logistics.
When this guy appears in the market, he must be recruiting troops for the Qingfeng Legion.
As the person opposite, if you speak to the market manager, not only may the rent be increased, but you may also be evicted from the market directly.
"Haha, you are joking. I haven't seen you for a long time. You don't know how much the market prices have risen recently." The increase in long-range troops is not as exaggerated as yours.”
The vendor smiled bitterly and said, “Buy these infantrymen back, put them back in the swordsman training camp, add some gold coins, and they can be exchanged for 5.
I don’t know how much you can make if you bring it back to the market.”
“Fuck you, if I can bring it back to the market. Do you still want to teach me?
Stop talking nonsense, this month is the month of hope. With so many more troops, you can give me ten times more troops. If the lord hadn't personally told you, I would have overturned your stall. "
"Ahem, okay, okay, there are 20 of them in total, you just need to pay 8,000 gold coins. ”
The number of field troops in the Moon of Hope has also doubled. However, although the number of troops has doubled, the demand has doubled several times.
Not to mention other places, just On the grassland, the nobles have raised their prices countless times.
There is no way. Jimmy is too fierce and will not stop during the New Year.
Everyone thought they could take advantage of the New Year to take a breather and connect with each other again, and maybe there was hope that they could block Jimmy's offensive.
Unexpectedly, they were not the only ones who had this idea. Several families who were related to Jimmy by marriage directly defected.
Jimmy's Chivalry Legion not only did not lose its strength by capturing the city, but instead annexed more than 5,000 troops.
Rather than leaving the family property to Jimmy and his people to inspect, it is better to use it to buy soldiers and food, and maybe it can last until the day when Aini's so-called turning point comes.
It's just a pity that these people are so stingy that they don't even know that Xu Lai's Qingfeng City has already tripled the price.
This leads to the fact that even if the price of recruiting soldiers is rising sharply, everyone is more willing to bring people to Qingfeng City to sell them.
At least in Qingfeng City, Xu Lai is not the only buyer. The little lords and heroes who rely on Xu Lai for their lives can also and are qualified to buy.
In addition, the reputation of Qingfeng City has now spread. Not to mention anything else, there are countless heroes among the lords who come to pay homage to the statue of the God of War every day.
Therefore, the price of Qingfeng City is relatively exaggerated.
When the nobles on Aini's side reacted and raised the price to 4 or 5 times, Qingfeng City's current quotation had already reached ten times.
Of course, ten times is too exaggerated, but Xu Lai has no time to manage it now.
Otherwise, Xu Lai would definitely have to deal with these profiteers who are raising prices on the ground.
Due to the imbalance between supply and demand, it is inevitable that prices will increase. However, the price increase in the surrounding area is only five times at most. If you shout ten times the price in Qingfeng City, isn't it clear that there are big eaters?
However, even with such an exaggerated price, Qingfeng City's logistics officials only repaid the price a little and decisively took them all away without giving others a chance to react.
When Wang Chao rushed to the next stall with the recruited soldiers, a nobleman with simple clothes and a calm and restrained temperament said to the vendor:
"Is the situation in your grassland area so tense now?"
The vendor shrugged and said in a rather helpless tone:
"I wish I were a grassland person. Anyone with a discerning eye knows that this heavenly hero named Xu from Qingfeng City will definitely be able to unify the grasslands.
I heard that the herdsmen in many places are no longer willing to pay rent to the local lords and just wait. They are fighting with Qingfeng City's troops.
Probably Xu Yingxiong is also guarding against the demon army. After all, Qingfeng City has erected a statue of the God of War.
If the statue of the God of War does not fall down for a day, the strength of the entire imperial army will increase by a few points. If the demons want to take over the world, sooner or later they will come to the grassland to fight. "
The noble's eyes lit up after hearing this, and he said to the merchant: "I didn't expect that you, a small merchant, have such insight. "
The merchant sneered and said: "What kind of knowledge do I have? The group of nobles in the Western Empire wanted to unite to become a country, but they were scattered by the demons.
Now the grasslands and the Northern Empire are actively preparing for war, and the cloud of war is hanging over everyone.
We, the merchants from the Southern Empire, are still doing business at all costs, sending precious soldiers all the way to the grassland. ”
"Are you also from the Southern Empire? No wonder the price is so expensive. The freight on the road is exaggerated."
The vendor chuckled and said: "Actually, it's not bad. Taking a big ship to the Naga territory It only takes a few hundred kilometers to get ashore, and some make money, while others make money." "Naga?" The nobles obviously don't know that Qingfeng City is still connected with the Naga clan.
The merchant frowned and said: "Don't you know, the Naga tribe on the seaside are allies of Xu Yingxiong.
Recently, many merchant ships from the Southern Empire have docked at the Naga territory. Shore.
Borrowing the east wind from Qingfeng City, a very large trade transit city is being built on the territory of the Naga tribe.
Well, look, that team of eight-armed Nagas guarding her should be the little princess of the Naga clan. ”
At Xu Lai’s current position, there are very few people who need him to greet him personally.
Bishop Duer’s side gathered people to set off just a few days ago, and there are thousands of people thousands of miles away. Walking, even if most of them are priest apprentices, will take at least a month or two.
Except for those in the temple, who can be considered friends.
The only outsiders who needed him to greet them personally were the Crown Prince of the Northern Empire, Haosen and his entourage, and the Naga Princess Emilia. (End of this chapter)